Titan King: Ascension of the Giant - Chapter 1340

Capítulo 1340: The Fracture in the Woods

The truth was a heavy burden, and Orion carried it alone.

There were matters he simply could not voice. His understanding of the world’s fundamental architecture—forged through the act of creation itself—went far beyond the comprehension of his peers. If he did not guard these secrets, Kairon, Seraphina, and Evander would remain blissfully ignorant.

The reality was far grimmer than a mere invasion. The encroaching dimension was not just bridging a connection to the Titanion Realm, as the Emerald Dream Realm did. It was overwriting it. It was a hostile merger of physics and metaphysics.

The consequences were already manifesting. The native laws of nature were fracturing, making way for a rapid, aggressive evolution of local fauna. specifically, the insects.

Orion extended his senses. His divine perception swept across his territory until it snagged on an anomaly in the north.

The Black Forest

It was the height of summer, and the humidity in the ancient woods was suffocating. The air was thick, not just with heat, but with a buzzing, chittering cloud of life. Dawn and dusk had become the golden hours for predators, making travel a gamble only the foolish or the desperate would take.

Snap.

“Damn it! Where are all these stinging bastards coming from?” Redfang grunted, wiping a smear of greenish ichor onto his leathers. “I swear, the woods weren’t this infested last year.”

The young giant looked down at the crushed insect near his boot and ground it into the dirt. It was a Viper-Fly—a nasty little beetle-like creature indigenous to the Black Forest. Its venom was a potent neurotoxin; enough of it could paralyze even a full-grown giant for a few minutes. Usually, the tribe’s apothecaries, like Rendall, harvested them for paralyzing agents.

“Good thing we Pandaren have thick fur,” Zhenlo chuckled, adjusting his pack. “Those little needles can’t get through the coat.”

Zhenlo and Redfang were childhood friends, raised on the rough streets of Blackstone City. They represented the new generation of the Stoneheart Horde, their identities forged in the shadow of the giants. This was their home, their turf.

“Redfang, level with me,” Zhenlo said, squinting into the canopy. “Are you sure there are Bagbirds out here? We’ve been walking for hours.”

They were on a treasure hunt. Bagbirds were rare, elusive creatures, prized for their ability to naturally generate spatial storage pockets—organic biological inventories.

“You calling me a liar, Zhenlo?” Redfang bristled, his voice booming slightly in the quiet woods. “Since when have I ever steered you wrong? My old man swore on the ancestors that the Giant King himself caught Bagbirds in this exact sector back in the day.”

To Redfang, this ground was practically holy. It was where Orion first made contact with the Ironbone Giants.

“I know, I know,” Zhenlo waved his paws defensively. “But you talk like you were there personally. It’s all legends, man.”

“It’s not just legends. When I was at the War Camps, I saw the records,” Redfang argued.

The War Camps were the proving grounds for the Stoneheart Horde’s youth. It was where commoners rubbed shoulders with the sons of Elders and the Giant Prince, competing for spots in the elite vanguard armies.

“Well, my dad was a Vanguard,” Zhenlo countered, his chest puffing out with pride. “He served directly under a Horde Elder. He says I’ve got the potential to break past Alpha-level.”

“Heh.” Redfang let out a dismissive snort. “In Blackstone City, stopping at Alpha-level is considered a failure. I’m aiming higher. Elder Dirtclaw made Warden, and I’ve got better talent than he did at my age.”

It was the arrogance of youth, but it was well-founded. The new generation was growing up with better resources, better training, and higher ceilings than their predecessors.

“Redfang, wait—” Zhenlo froze, his ears twitching. “What is that?”

Redfang followed his friend’s gaze. High up on the trunk of a massive ironwood tree, a cocoon the size of a human head pulsed with a sickly, bioluminescent violet light. In the dim light of dawn, it stood out like a beacon.

“Let’s check it out.”

Fifteen minutes later, utilizing Zhenlo’s climbing claws and Redfang’s raw strength, they managed to pry the cocoon from the bark and bring it to the forest floor.

Redfang stared at the object, unsettled. “By the spirits… tell me that isn’t a Viper-Fly.”

“It’s… evolving?”

Redfang drew his dagger and carefully slit the silk casing. The smell of ozone and acid wafted out. Inside lay a monster—a Viper-Fly the size of a softball, sporting two extra pairs of translucent, razor-sharp wings.

“Look at the abdomen,” Zhenlo whispered, horrified. “It’s pulsating. The damn thing is alive.”

“Since when do bugs in the Black Forest get this big?” Redfang’s voice trembled.

He stared at the creature. A regular Viper-Fly is annoying, he thought. But a swarm of these? That could wipe out a patrol.

“If this thing bites you, you aren’t just getting paralyzed,” Redfang said grimly. “You’re dead.”

“We need to move,” Zhenlo said, his playful demeanor gone. “The patrol needs to see this. Now.”

“Agreed.”

The two friends packed the specimen and bolted, racing toward the edge of the forest. They had no idea that their discovery had pinged a divine radar.

Miles away, Orion sat motionless, his eyes open but seeing a different layer of reality. Had this mutation occurred in a neutral territory or another faction’s land, he might have missed it. But the Black Forest was his backyard. He knew every heartbeat, every leaf, and every insect in his domain.

In his memory, a Viper-Fly was the size of a thumb. The monstrosity Redfang had just found was an anomaly that confirmed his worst fears.

The laws of the Titanion Realm were buckling.

The insect kingdom was the first beneficiary of the alien world’s influence. They were adapting, growing, and evolving at a terrified pace to match the incoming reality.

Orion narrowed his eyes. He would keep this to himself.

It was a selfish move, but necessary. Information was currency. By the time Kairon and the others realized what was happening, the Stoneheart Horde would already have countermeasures in place.

The discovery of the mutated Viper-Fly told Orion something else, too. The timeline was accelerating. The civil war and the sacrifice of Lokiviria were years in the past. The enemy had used that time well.

The invasion wasn’t coming. It was already here.